Chances
by ChristinaVsTheWorld
Summary: Nina is best friends with James Potter.  James Potter is madly in love with Lily Evans.  Lily, Chels, Amanda, and Nina are all best friends.  James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus are best friends.  Together, they're ready to face their sixth year at Hogwarts.


Nina sat in the last compartment on the Hogwarts Express. It was still empty, to be expected as it was still quite early, and the only other people roaming around on the platform were a few families accompanying their over-eager first years. Sighing, Nina turned her attention back to the novel she was reading as she waited for her friends to arrive. Nearly 20 minutes later the platform had filled and Nina could hear the loud laughs and accompanying giggles that signaled the marauders arrival.

Smiling to herself, Nina rolled her eyes and sat her book to the side waiting for the intrusion she knew would happen any moment.

"NINA!" Amanda screamed as she ran into the compartment, jumping into her friends lap.

The next two girls entered the compartment slightly less hyper than Amanda, saying hi to Nina and taking their seats to wait for the boys.

After pushing Amanda into the floor, Nina greeted her friends, "Hey Chels, Lily. How were the ends of your summers?"

"Great!" They both said at the same time.

"Even more proof you two were separated at birth!" Nina laughed.

"LILY! My dearest Lily! How are youuuuuu?" The group heard James Potter's voice out in the hallway. They all looked at each other and rolled their eyes a moment before the four boys entered the compartment, taking the remaining seats.

"Sirius, get off of me." Nina growled when he sat himself on her legs.

"Aw! But Nina! This is the best seat in the compartment! And from this point I can see everyone perfectly!" Sirius paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "Well, everyone except you of course!"

Everyone chuckled at that, and Nina managed to push Sirius into the floor, causing full-on laughter from the group. Sirius picked himself up and sat in the seat that had been left for him with a pout.

"That wasn't very nice you know, Chance."

"Oh please Black, you know I'm capable of worse." See, Nina and Amanda were the beaters for the Gryffindor quidditch team, which meant it could go without saying that they were two of the strongest people in Gryffindor house.

Sirius paled, "Oh, believe me, I don't need any reminding of that!" He was thinking of the time during fifth year that Nina had attacked him after they lost the game to Hufflepuff. Of course, he had deserved it since it was his fault that they had lost. He was showing off for a few of his fan girls when the Hufflepuff seeker sighted the snitch before him, and caught it before him, as well.

You better not let that happen again." Nina said with a dark glare.

"So how was everyone's summer?" Remus asked, setting aside his book for the moment.

"Mine was okay, I stayed with Amanda for most of it, and we went to Chelsea's for a few weeks in the middle." Nina told him.

"That's nice. The rest of us boys might as well move into James' place, really. We spent the entire summer there, and we all have our own rooms." Remus said lightly.

"How about you Lily?" James asked, looking at her with pure adoration in his eyes.

"It was nice. I spent the same time at Chelsea's in the middle, but it was nice to be at home with my family though…" Lily paused there and made a face. "Petunia has this vile boyfriend now by the name of Vernon. He's such a gross boy and I don't even begin to see what she see's in him."

"Eugh!" Nina exclaimed, making a face that involved sticking her tongue out.

"Watch out Chance, or your face'll get stuck like that!"

"Shut up Black!" She replied, sticking her tongue out at him now.

"I had the displeasure of meeting him, and he really is quite an odd being." Chels added.

"Well to hear you say that, I'm quite sure I hope to never meet him." Remus said with a chuckle.

"Oh don't make fun of me Remus! But it's true! I hope none of you ever have to meet him!" Chels said, laughing slightly. "Remus, Lily, don't you two have the prefects meeting? She went on to ask as the train finally pulled out of the station.

Lily jumped up quickly- "Right! Of course! Come along Remus!" She said as she rushed out of the compartment.

Remus chuckled as he stood up to follow her. "Off I go." He said on his way out.

Sirius took this chance to scooch into the seat Remus had just vacated, turning to lean against the wall with his feet in his previous seat.

"Sirius why aren't you off bothering your newest girl in your line of conquests?" Nina asked with a smirk, "Can't let your reputation as a womanizer go to waste you know."

"Be nice Nina!" Amanda said with a laugh.

"For your information, no one has happened to catch my eye yet this year." Sirius said in a lazy drawl.

The quiet boy in the corner piped up at this point, "That's a bit odd for you Sirius."

"Oh! Peter! Look you're joining into a conversation all on your own! I'm so proud!"

"Don't be a prick James." Peter responded, before turning his head to resume his nap.

"What about you our dear friend Amanda… Gotta keep up that man-eater reputation!"

"Shut it Black!" Amanda said jokingly. "I haven't touched a boy at all since just after the Easter holiday." She said with a frown.

"It's true!" Nina laughed. "I had to put up with her complaining all summer!"

"Hey now! I wasn't that bad!" Amanda laughed.

"Whatever you say!" Chels said, "I know you complained an awful lot during the two weeks you were at my place."

Everyone laughed at the face Amanda pulled at that.

It was then that everyone heard a stomach growl.

"I'm hungry." Nina stated, turning to James with a spark in her eyes.

"Food trolley?" James said with a smirk.

"Food trolley!" Nina yelled. They both jumped up and rushed into the corridor of the train, Amanda not far behind them.

Chels laughed as she watched Sirius hesitate to follow them. "Go before they eat it all!" She said.

Chels laughed at the way Nina and James interacted. She knew how close they were, even though no one outside of the group of eight knew the real reason as to why.

Nina seemed to be thinking about that exact reason as she followed James in their search for the food trolley. Ever since day one at Hogwarts her and James had become the best of friends. She was a muggleborn, but had actually practically grown up with James, since he had gone to her muggle primary school, and they lived on the same street. So they had been close before, but no James longer having to keep his biggest secret from her had cemented their friendship. When Nina received her letter to Hogwarts her parents hadn't been sure of how to react and the entire time Nina had been at Hogwarts the Potters had been trying to convince her parents it was a good thing.

When Nina had gone home for Christmas that year, the Potters brought her home with James, and then had to explain to her that her parents never wanted to see her again.

Nina shook herself out of her thoughts. She hadn't seen or spoken to her parents since Christmas Day of that year, and actually hadn't spend more than a few days at a time at James' since the summer before third year - not that she wasn't eternally grateful to the Potters. As she had grown up, she had moved on.

At this point the four found the food trolley and quickly bought enough to feed an army before returning back to the compartment to find that Remus and lily had returned. The eight friends spent the rest of the trip discussing everything and nothing and looking forward to their sixth year at Hogwarts.


End file.
